Talk:All About : Princess Anna/@comment-108.17.145.62-20171003164558
We need to talk about the important big-payoff-that-didn’t. I’m talking about Anna’s memories. One of the major flaws of the movie was the lack of resolve regarding Anna’s childhood memories of Elsa’s magic. It was presented in the beginning of the film to be the central conflict that sets things in motion: because Anna can’t know about Elsa’s magic for her own safety, the solution is for Elsa to be shut away from her until she learns to control her powers. Now, there are three steps to resolving the conflict of the story: *Anna finding out about Elsa’s powers. *Anna recovering her memories of her childhood thus repairing the initial situation. *Elsa learning how to control her powers. One and three? Boom, done. Beautifully done. Tragic, you broke all of our hearts, good job, Disney. But by skipping over Anna’s memories, it does a disservice to the story. The second part never happened and as a result the story still feels…incomplete. What’s disappointing about it is that the film set up the resolve in numerous instances. They showed moments of Anna slowly remembering things, getting an inkling of realization, but never enough to fully blow her memories wide open. I kept expecting a final epiphany, of that last key of her memories being unlocked (there might have been flashbacks, wide eyes, hair blowing in the wind, and crying in my version of it). But it never happened. Let’s look at the progression and set-up: 1- Ok, so Anna clearly remembers something about that night, even though it registers as a dream 2- It’s almost like there’s something familiar about this moment. She’s more phased and suprised by Elsa’s hurt than she is by the ice itself 3- Memories of making Olaf in the ballroom might not be there, but he is, and that’s another step closer. 4- They’re real after all. MAYBE IT WASN’T A DREAM, ANNA 5- Look at Anna’s face. She’s listening and recognizing something, but something else. The focus of her eyes shift, she isn’t looking at Bulda, she’s looking at something far away. She’s thinking back on Elsa, through all those years and the party. And when she finally looks back at Bulda, there’s insight and realization on her face. 6- This THIS is the moment right here where it all should have finally coalesced and Anna remembered. We go from “I was wrong about Elsa” to self-sacrifice in a matter of minutes, with no explanation or development of bridging the gap between those two extreme moments. I understand the set up was for Anna to realize Kristoff loved her - and I wholly encourage that! He does love her! And she likes him back! Yay for them, they’re great together! But look, Anna as the innocently questioning girl “Kristoff…loves me?” was also the perfect set up to all her memories suddenly coming back. That awareness would fulfill the gap in her history and also the development of her character throughout the movie. Understanding that Elsa loved her all along should have fueled realization of her feelings for Kristoff. But it didn’t. All of those moments piggyback off each other, building up the momentum for a big reveal, for Anna finally remembering. But she never does. And it’s not fair to either Elsa or Anna. Despite everything, Anna doesn’t understand the true depth of Elsa’s actions. She doesn’t understand that Elsa’s entire life was a slow self-sacrifice, no less than what Anna had given to her that moment on the fjord. Therefore, its an unbalanced relationship. Elsa’s “freedom”, her understanding of her power, is a gift given by Anna. That’s not to say it isn’t a gift or that it should take away from what Anna did but, it is problematic in that Anna doesn’t know Elsa did the same for her. That everything Elsa did was for Anna, it always was. That they sacrificed for each other time and time again, they always have but never knew it. And that’s not fair. Anna is the hero of the movie. But so is Elsa. And Anna never remembering her childhood diminishes Elsa’s heroism because Elsa is never recognized for it by the one person who matters most. Elsa is saved by Anna, but Anna was also saved by Elsa and it’s a shame that the second part is completely glossed over in the film. We know what Elsa did and why. But Anna doesn’t, and she deserves to know. All she ever wanted to know was why Elsa closed herself off and they stopped being close. It’s not enough to for Anna to think that Elsa hid herself away just because she had these powers. Because that’s not true, is it. Elsa didn’t hide herself because she has powers. She hid because she’d hurt Anna. Even though she sings that “she finally understands,” the irony is that even after everything, she still doesn’t. Anna still needed to learn why because it’s the most important piece of the puzzle, what will complete their story and put them on equal and even footing once more. Anna needed to learn that yes, Elsa loved her, and Elsa’s reclusivity and fear stemmed from love for Anna and her desire to protect her. That’s the key to Anna’s sacrifice. The whole picture is still hidden from her and it was almost within her grasp the entire time.